Fannie, Freddie Need to Be Part of Reform: Corker

CNBC.com

Tuesday, 18 May 2010 | 10:53 AM ETCNBC.com

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“Poor loan underwriting” and the cost of home loan providers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the federal budget have not been addressed in the Senate financial regulation bill, Bob Corker (R., TN) told CNBC Tuesday.

Although Corker will not vote for the bill, he admitted it will “pass this week.”

Corker on the Push for a FinReg Vote

Democratic leaders hope to vote on the Senate's financial regulation bill as early as this week. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.j), a member of the Senate Banking Cmte., discusses the push for a vote with CNBC.

“It’s a 1,400-page bill that does not address the core issues of what put us in this situation,” Corker said. “But no crisis goes wasted around here in Washington,” he added.

Corker said he thinks there has to be follow-up legislation. “But this (Obama) administration wants to do everything they can from keeping the public focused on that,” Corker said.

“(Fannie and Freddie) are 90 percent of the loan market today. These are still the enablers,” Corker said, who added the issue has to be solved some time. “We’ll deal with it, but it will be way beyond the time that we should.”

The government bailed out Fannie and Freddie in the fall of 2008 right before the financial crisis began.